I have an application, that copies a PDF formular (with Controlelements like textboxes) and lets the user fill and save it (without ever printing it). There are a few fields like "name", "first name", day of birth and so on, that my application knows itself so i'd like to make my application fill these fields on its own, to save the user some time.
Is there an interface for vb.net, that allows me to write into PDF-Textboxes?
You will need a PDF library for this. I would recommend you to try Docotic.Pdf library for the task (I work for the vendor).
Please take a look at the sample that shows how to fill existing PDF form.
Related
I'm using a publisher document as a template to create fitting instructions for our products. Everytime we launch a new product an individual instruction is produced which involves a lot of copy and pasting and then translating the master document into 4 different languages.
Although being individual to the product, there are only 5 sets of instructions with their own wordings (which doesn't change) and pics, the layout of the document is the same across all 5.
I was thinking to create a user form to enter the product name, choose the required set, insert photos and save the new doc as .pub and .pdf (only in English, I want to get this running first)
I tried around with Access and mail merge but it doesn't work the way I need it to. So I reverted to using VB in publisher where I've been basically able to return the text boxes, however, I can't see a way to display the code of the entire document with all text boxes and their formatting. Is this possible or would I have to code the entire document from scratch?
Thanks for reading and your input.
I'm using Extract Form Fields to get data from a PDF. But upon selecting the area where the desired text is located, the "Value" text area in the popup should be automatically populated with desired text, but that isn't the case. The "Value" field is staying blank.
Any idea what might be causing this?
you need to check whether your PDF has handwritten content or it is a scanned file.
if your PDF does not satisfy above criteria you can easily automate your PDF using Automation anywhere by selecting the area. if your PDF is invoice or bill or any type of GST forms better to use IQ Bot.
I'm using pdftk to fill in the form with the generated fdf.
In the PDF form, the form field is configured as a number field with 2 decimal point, and the negative value will be showing with parentheses, for example, -4444 will become (4444.00)
Using any PDF viewers and changing the value on form did make the form display the value correctly with the behaviour explained above (negative value will become value with parentheses)
Tested also with the FDF (by importing to the form), the negative value will be displayed correctly as well.
But when using the pdftk fill-form action, the negative value remains as it is without changing the display, which is still showing -4444 and not (4444.00)
Is anyone experienced this before / has a solution for this?
Update #1
I've also tested Apache PDFBox, it has the same issue :(
And now I'm trying to achieve this by using the PDF's javascript, any clue that this way will works?
Update #2
came across this thread How to refresh Formatting on Non-Calculated field and refresh Calculated fields in Fillable PDF form and so gave it a try with iText as well. However still unable to make it works
Finally, i've found some ways to get the formatting works in the PDF form fields.
Approach #1
Requirements
pdftk
PDF form with javascript
In the PDF, create a "Document Javascript" (see how) and re-assign the form's value to make it dirty as mentioned by Denis in the thread of Update #2. The script could be as simple as below:
var text1 = this.getField('text1');
text1.value = text1.value;
Downside
Javascript will only be triggered when you open the PDF, and if you would like to set the PDF with some ownerPassword to prevent user edit the file, the javascript will just failed because of read-only form fields. Otherwise, imagine you have 100 form fields in the PDF, re-assign each of them is a nightmare.
Approach #2
iText
PDF form
I personally will prefer this approach. The powerful iText already has the API to set the form field and at the same time formatting the field display (see how). The generated PDF is ready to print as well with the correct format.
Downside
Either using the iText API to find out the existing format of the form field, or you will hard code the format in your codes. Require more efforts than using the pdftk.
I'm using a simpler version of ChinKang's #1.
In Tools -> Document Javascripts:
this.calculateNow();
One thing to check is in Tools -> Set field calculation order that any calculations are ordered appropriately.
I then use https://github.com/ccnmtl/fdfgen and pdftk to fill the forms in.
The only gotcha is that you cannot flatten the PDF
Currently, I have an excel file that upon launch it shows a userform where users can fill out a few text boxes/comboboxes and press create. Upon pressing create, it gathers stored data and creates a PDF that we send to vendors. It's essentially an invoice. The vendors that receive this PDF have to fill out a couple of lines and return it to us. Right now if they have no acrobat/reader experience, they're printing the PDF and then scanning and returning to us.
I want the vendors to be able to type in a few areas on the PDF and return it to us. My question is, can I create a fillable PDF from excel? Does anyone know how to do this using excel features or with VBA? Or any other method?
Thanks!
Brandon
Short Answer: Absolutely.
First you will start with a fillable pdf form. (you can create one using Adobe Acrobat or the older Adobe Designer)
It is my understanding, from your question that you would like to take some information, fill out a PDF, then send this to your client, to complete this.
Using VBA you can do all of this in one single button.
I created a step-by-step video on how to use the SendKeys method to achieve this.
Please see the detailed instructional YouTube video here: How to AUTOMATICALLY fill PDF forms using Microsoft Excel in 1 CLICK
I want to make a editable PDF document – but I want to take it a step further.
Is it possible to create some editable fields on the first page where the user can put in personal information (name, age etc.) and have the document fill itself in where "name" is required?
I need this for some employment contracts and it would be alot faster if the user only needs to fill the information in once, print the PDF and sign it. :)
In PDF a single form field may have multiple widgets. By definition all these widgets have the same content.
E.g. have a look at thie sample document aFieldTwice.pdf. You see two fields. As soon as you edit one of them and press enter, the same content occurs in the other one.
This might be what you look for.